Absolutely brilliant! Don’t miss it — the story of Australia’s WWI army nurses told with exhilarating style.

Follow Sister Florence Whiting on her four year odyssey — from departure on the troopship Kyarra, to tours of duty in the Dardanelles, on Lemnos, in Egypt, France and the Western Front.

Based on the letters and diaries of Australian army nurses, Through These Lines offers an intimate and unique theatrical experience, performed by a talented ensemble cast with authentic costumes and props for an immersive experience of the tumult of war.

Newcastle performances will be staged in the tunnels of historic Fort Scratchley. Built in 1882 to guard from attack by sea, its walls encircle a century of military history.

A percentage of all ticket sales will be donated to Fort Scratchley Historical Society.

I chose Fort Scratchley after meeting historian Christine Bramble who has done fantastic work researching Hunter WWI nurses.

She suggested, after hearing about the play’s original production in the defence tunnels of Headland Park in Sydney in 2010, that if I was ever to bring the play to Newcastle I should look at Fort Scratchley.

I did, and she was right.

The experience of war is so far removed for so many of us that I wanted a setting that would bring the audience into the story. The medical staff worked in basements, tents and bunkers, old asylums and orphanages, chateaux and ships — anywhere patients could be attended to in relative safety. They had to improvise and experiment.

This is the atmosphere I want to evoke.

— Cheryl Ward